In what some may consider a twisted cosmic joke, radio listeners in the Baltimore area, when tuning in to listen to NPR or Christian broadcasts, are hearing Howard Stern, instead. The problem is due to poorly installed or defective satellite radio units in nearby cars, which can act as mini-FM transmitters, according to Yahoo News.
Kmart has moved its estimated $200 million media buying and planning duties from MediaCom to WPP sister shop MindShare, writes AdAge. The switch took place without a review.
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Chick-fil-A’s “Eat Mor Chikin” cows, created by the Dallas-based ad agency The Richards Group, have been inducted into the Outdoor Advertising Association of America’s hall of fame, according to the Houston Business Journal. The cows were first introduced in 1995 as a three-dimensional billboard, with one cow sitting atop another cow painting the words “Eat More Chikin” on a billboard.
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Nielsen has created chaos in the television advertising industry once again, according to one of Madsion Avenue’s biggest TV buyers, by releasing its three concurrent streams of TV ratings data and leaving it to the buyers and TV advertising marketplace to sort out how they should be used, Mediapost reports.
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WPP Group’s GroupM division, which oversees the operations of MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia, and MindShare, Wednesday announced the acquisition of IEG Inc., a Chicago-based publisher of newsletters and data about sponsorships and event marketing, MediaPost reports.
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Yahoo has released free software, in beta, that turns a PC into a digital video recorder (DVR), writes CNET (via MarketingVOX). Using Yahoo Go for TV, users plug their computer into their TVs’ video and audio input connections, allowing the computer to record and play back on the TV the recorded shows. The software allows the playing or showing on TV of DVDs, music, photos or other content downloaded to a computer. A TV/computer combination seems an optimal way of reaching consumers both for media and advertising.
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Web TV startup Brightcove executive Adam Gerber told media buyers and planners - who seem to have made up their minds that pre-roll is inferior to TV advertising - that pre-roll has positives that need to be focused on, reports MediaPost (via MarketingVOX). He was speaking on a “New Channel for Content Distribution” panel at Media Magazine’s Outfront conference Thursday. “We’re not even in the first inning of broadband,” Gerber said. “It’s more like batting practice.”
Marketers dismayed by last year’s studies that found consumers detested and deleted cookies have cause for cheer in that a new study has found only 8 percent of consumers “very frequently” delete cookies (vs. 18 percent in a previous, 2004 study), reports ClickZ (via MarketingVOX), citing a survey sponsored by Revenue Science and conducted by the Ponemon Institute. Other studies last year had put the proportion of at least monthly cookie deleters at 39-55 percent.
According to the new Ponemon study, 24 percent of respondents also said they never delete cookies, more than double the 11 percent in the previous study.
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TV Guide editor-in-chief Ian Birch announced yesterday that the magazine would launch, in the May 1 issue, a brand new weekly column called “Downloads” that features information about the best television shows available for download or online viewing each week.
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Cox Radio announced yesterday the launch of seven new high-definition sub-channel (HD2) formats, which correspond with the company’s current analog and HD1 radio station formats serving the Atlanta, Georgia and Tampa, Florida markets.
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Scripps Networks and The Taunton Press announced their multi-year partnership that will allow Scripps Networks’ online properties (HGTV.com, Foodnetwork.com, DIYNetwork.com, FineLiving.com, GACTV.com, HGTVPro.com and HGTVKitchenDesign.com) to use The Taunton Press’s book and magazine content. In return, The Taunton Press will be able to use Scripps Networks’ online properties to assist with driving a larger audience to its magazines and books.
Kanoodle - a provider of sponsored links to websites - announced the launch of a new tool to help advertisers target their ads directly at consumers based on the location of geographic location of IP addresses. The company also says it improved its tool for advertisers to choose at what times their ads run.
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Despite the weak magazine advertising market, AARP The Magazine announced promising first quarter figures, as marketers reach out to the growing baby boomer market.
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Expanding its radio broadcast and online presence, Clear Channel Radio’s Total Traffic Network announced that it has signed new agreements with Citadel Broadcasting and Fox Interactive Media.
